So you are interested in volunteering with the Apache OpenOffice project, one of the oldest and most famous open source projects around? Great, welcome to the project!
Getting involved in a large open source project can be a little intimidating. There is so much going on, so many new names, new processes, new ways of communicating. It can be confusing, even frustrating at first. In some ways, maybe at the technical level, it is similar to other software development projects you may be familiar with. But as a community-led open source project the ways we work, communicate, make decisions, and resolve disputes are very different than what you might see in other environments.
In order to help new Volunteers fit into the OpenOffice Community and understand socially and technically how we work, we have created a set of self-directed Orientation Modules to provide key information and help you develop key skills needed to contribute effectively to the project.
We've designed the Orientation Modules in four levels:
The first two are focused on general project-wide community participation skills. These modules provide the information that every contributor should aim to understand, whether they are writing C++ code or user documentation.
Level 1: Introduction to Contributing to Apache OpenOffice and How the Apache OpenOffice Project Works
Level 2: Decision Making and Making sense of Project's Technical Infrastructure
Once you have completed these first two Levels, you will have been exposed to the basic skills that enable you to volunteer as a general contributor, or to dive deeper into a specialized area of the project, like Quality Assurance, Marketing, Translation or Development.
Levels 3 and 4 are specialized Levels, that focus on basic and intermediate knowledge, processes, tools and skills related to that specific area.
Level 3: Introductory Specialized Areas
Level 4: Intermediate Specialized Areas